What we have here is a playing surface

Yesterday it was grass, today it's a surface!

There is a day every spring when I walk up on the greens and think: “now this is a playing surface!” Tuesday was that day. The grass had finally overtaken the sand, the mowers are cutting clean, a solid app of iron sulfate has been applied. What was simply grass the day before, overnight, has become a playing surface. 

Anyone who manages turf will know the feeling. It may not be bentgrass coming out of winter; maybe it’s a new seeding, a winter overseed that finally matures, or bermudagrass coming out of dormancy. Regardless, we all know the feeling; yesterday it was grass, today it’s a playing surface. 

On bentgrass in Minnesota, the advent of this day can be slightly manipulated, but really is completely down to the weather. We put a lot of sand on our greens prior to winter, so in order for the playing surface to develop, the grass needs to grow up and “consume” the sand. Once the sand has been consumed, the amount going through the mower blades is greatly reduced, meaning the mowers stay sharp and produce a clean cut. The ball rolls much smoother over blades that have been cut clean. Once the sand is consumed, we start lowering the height of cut. This means less resistance, which translates into a longer(faster) ball roll. 

In order for the grass to do this, the weather must play its part too. Without soil temps, the grass doesn’t grow and the playing surface doesn’t come; it’s that simple. I find the playing surface comes when the soil temps are sustained above 55F/13C degrees and reaching to the 60sF/high teens C during the day.

What comes with a playing surface? Greenspeed! It is easy to see below exactly when our playing surfaces arrived.